Online records show the Hobbit author was shipped home in 1916, just before his battalion underwent massive shelling
JRR Tolkien’s war records show that trench fever “of unknown origin” meant the author was shipped home to Britain shortly before his battalion was hit by a “massive” bombardment.
Discovered by the Forces War Records team as they digitise tens of thousands of records for the public to view for the first time, Tolkien’s documents show the 25-year-old second lieutenant was referred to the casualty clearing station from the 75th field ambulance on 28 October 1916. He was treated there for two days, before being transferred to number 22 ambulance train, and sent home to the UK.
The only green was the scum of livid weed on the dark greasy surfaces of the sullen waters. Dead grasses and rotting reeds loomed up in the mists like ragged shadows of long forgotten summers,” wrote Tolkien. “Hurrying forward again, Sam tripped, catching his foot in some old root or tussock. He fell and came heavily on his hands, which sank deep into sticky ooze … For a moment the water below him looked like a window, glazed with grimy glass, through which he was peering. Wrenching his hand out of the bog, he sprang back with a cry. ‘There are dead things, dead faces in the water,’ he said with horror.”
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